After the War
by Draco's Felix
Summary: Originally written as two very long headcanons. A small, fragmented and and really quite random little story that follows the Malfoys and the events after the war. A little Draco/Harry but is mainly about family. Nymphadora is my OC and you may see her return in another story!


After the war and Voldemort's fall, Draco had no idea what to do with himself. When the trials were over, his mother busied herself with redecorating the entire manor so that no trace of dirty dark magic was left, his father devoted his entire time to restoring the family name and attempting to find Draco a wife, so that the Malfoys would have new alliances, and, more importantly, an heir. For the most part, Draco was told to keep quiet and out of the way, and so spent most of his summer locked up in his room, crying or playing his piano, which his mother has discovered in one of the unused backrooms.

As three of the most hated members of society, it was a deep shock to all of the Malfoys when Draco received his 8th year Hogwarts letter on the 27th of August. For the longest time, he would have no idea of the trials and fights Minerva McGonagall, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger had endured so that it could reach him. A small token of hope, a chance for redemption. Draco spent three days just staring at it, not even daring to touch it, lest it might burn him.

On the third day, before Draco even knew what had happened, his mother swiftly replied to the letter, packed Draco's trunk and prepared everything he might need for another year at Hogwarts. But on the 1st of September, when he and his parents arrived at King's Cross, the first ones at the platform, all Draco felt was empty. The first one to say goodbye to his parents, the first one to board the Hogwarts express, to touch it's familiar seat covers and walls, all he could feel was the yawning emptiness, begging to swallow him whole, and at that moment, he wished more than anything it would.

He sat alone in his compartment, save the last five minutes of the journey. That was when Harry opened the door and slid in. He heavily plonked himself on the seat opposite Draco, and sighed just as heavily.

"Malfoy, you once told me that I didn't want to go making friends with the wrong sort of people." A deep silence fell, before Harry could get out his next words: "There's a lot of truth in that, but I think you learnt that in a way that was much more unfair and bitter than the way I did. It would be a lie to say that none of what happened was your fault. Some of it was. But it was mostly Voldemort's."

The words had come clumsy and rushed; planned but badly executed. It was only Harry's Gryffindor courage that allowed him to go on, "now that this whole... mess... is over, I really hope we can all live without the divide Voldemort tried to put between us. For that reason, Professor McGonagall has decided, and wanted me to tell you, that the 8th year students won't have houses... There are already enough disputes, differences and divides between us. We'll be like our own little house... Although I have to say, I'll miss besting you at Quidditch!" Harry smiled, but quickly hid it when he saw Malfoy's bewildered face. Again, he continued on, "anyway, we'll have our own dormitories and even our own table in the great hall..."

Suddenly, out of the complete blue, Hermione burst in. "Harry! And... er, Draco... have you seen a toad? Neville has already lost Trevor the Second. I seriously don't understand why he couldn't have just got an owl or something..."

With that, Harry left with Hermione and her impromptu toad search party. Draco wasn't sure when he stopped feeling empty, but he knew it was sometime between Potter entering the compartment and Harry leaving.

* * *

Narcissa received many letters from Draco over the course of the first term, but none of them shocked nor delighted her as much as the last one. Two days before her son was due home for the holidays, she received a letter that simply read:

_Mum,_  
_I've fallen in love. Sorry I didn't say anything earlier. Said love is coming home with me for the holidays. Highly suggest dad "looses" his wand within the next two days._  
_Love, Draco._

Lucius Malfoy's wand did mysteriously go missing before Harry and Draco stepped off the train hand in hand, but all truth be told, it wasn't necessary; Lucius Malfoy fainted, right there and then on platform 9 and 3/4. It was a sight that would keep many a witch and wizard warm in their old age, but none more so than Draco and Harry.

* * *

For the most part, Lucius Malfoy accepted Draco and Harry. For most fathers, it was not exactly ideal when your stole and supposedly straight son suddenly winds up with the 12-year-old that outsmarted you (granted Harry was no longer 12, but as if Lucius would ever see him in any other light); Lucius and his cold prestige, however, took it relatively well... if one was to disregard the mortifyingly embarrassing fact that Lucius had publically fainted after seeing Harry and Draco hand in hand for the first time.

If anything, the whole thing had been a god send for the Malfoys, who were the official scum of society when Harry Potter dropped out of the sky and into Draco's arms. Literally. Harry had fallen off his broom, and had it not been for Draco standing directly underneath him, the saviour might have broken a bone or two, god forbid.

However, the whole situation did leave the rather puzzling problem of heirs.

So when Draco was twenty years old, he became an older brother. In the hopes of having continued bloodline, his parents had conceived another child, a little girl called Nymphadora. Lucius had objected to his heart's content at the name choice, but ultimately lost.

But what neither Draco nor Lucius knew, was that during the pregnancy a healer had informed Narcissa that at her age, even with magical intervention, having a child was very dangerous. He advised her to make preparations and she did so. Shortly before the birth she came to see the healer with an unusual request, and gave him 18 letters for each of the 18 birthdays of her little girl's childhood, each addressed to little Nymphadora.

Heartbreak fell when Narcissa passed away during the child birth. Harry had never seen anyone in so much pain as Draco in the months that followed. But the real tragedy was Lucius, who, in his unbearable pain and guilt, could do nothing but blame Draco for what had transpired. He denied Draco access to see the little girl, and as soon as she could leave St. Mungos, Lucius whisked her far away to France where they could not be found.

Many times Lucius had intended to reunite with Draco. To apologise, to become a family again, but there were always problems, hesitations, doubts.

* * *

It was on 27th of August, on Nymphadora's 5th birthday, that the little girl read the 5th letter from her mama, the first time she had read it herself and unaided. And it was on the 27th of August, that for the first time, she looked up at her dada with beautifully blue Malfoy eyes and asked, "Dada, where is Draco?"

Her dada smiled and simply replied, "If you have breakfast and get dressed quickly, I'll show you."

Half an hour, breakfast and an apparition later, and the two icy blondes, one dressed in black and the other in baby pink, found themselves outside the gates of Malfoy Manor. Passing through the gates that turned to smoke and happily knocking on the giant doors, little Nymphadora never knew how much that day would change her life. But she knew something very special was happening when she first glimpsed upon the young man who opened the door... The first memory of her brother she ever had. His eyes were like a long lost dream, and she never forgot that moment.

All three of them were speechless for that small and perfect lapse of time. They might have been silent for much longer had Harry not appeared from the other room. This was another treasured memory Nymphadora would never lose: a young man with bright green eyes and an even brighter smile, with funny glasses that were round like the moon. He crouched down next to her, and said: "Are you little Nymphadora, then? We've been waiting a very, very long time to meet you."

"I like to be called Tonks!" She replied, pouting.

Draco looked at his little sister, then at his father, and they burst out laughing, and then into tears. And so, Tonks' favourite birthday began.

* * *

On her 18th birthday, Tonks opened the very last letter from her mother. With shaking hands and eyes full of tears, she read:

_My beloved Nymphadora,_

_Though you may not see me, I am right beside you, and always will be. You are as beautiful and wise as I always knew you would be, and so much more wonderful and kind than I could ever have imagined. Be strong, and know that you are never alone. Always listen to your heart. Always do the right thing. I know you will. Happy Birthday my darling. I love you._

_Never forget to live life to the fullest,_

_Mama x_

The letter was stained with tears older than Nymphadora herself. She felt Draco's arms catch her as she fell in her heartbreak, joy and pain; and he held her until she cried until she could cry no more. Slowly, Harry knelt before her, took her hands in his, and told her a story he had never told another soul: the story of the resurrection stone, the forest, of seeing his parents beside him that fateful night at the battle of Hogwarts, and how the ones who love us never really leave us.

The rest of the day was filled with joy and celebration that Tonks would never forget; but it was Harry's story that truly stained her heart and mind, that coloured the way she lived her life. She had promised Harry to keep the story secret and did so until the last moments of her life, where she broke her promise and whispered the story to her youngest grandchild, a little boy terrified of losing his nana. Like Harry, she died happy, but died never knowing the legend and legacy that that tiny story would become... that it would mean no child would be so afraid of death or losing a loved one again.


End file.
